Ruined Cat Tail Stalk

A certain billionaire hid something on Great Bear one easter, however he hid it so well it was never found. It has now become quite old, or one might say forlorn...

Agreed. Might be the best voice line in the game, always makes me laugh. Astrid's lines has so much more personality than Will's, I think. The "I've never been this hungry in my life" line I find mildly annoying to hear on like day 50 and upward. But in general I like hearing all the voice lines, I never turn them off. I would actually like that one line to only appear once, or maybe disappear after a number of days. On the other hand, maybe that's just the protein poisoning clouding the survivor's memory 🤷

Yeah it's so loud and unexpected! On the other hand, I think one of the most satisfying sounds in the game is the skill level up sound. That little wait after you've completed a skill book or made a succesfull repair, and then that sweet wind/whistle sound. So good.

The absolute scariest sound in the game I find is when you get a new badge. Was playing Interloper (I usually play Stalker), running around with only a flare and stones for protection, when I got the running badge. My goodness, that sound out of nowhere almost gave me a heart attack!

8. Being to eager to warm up and stepping into your own campfire.

A quick search in the wish list here reveals that there is no shortage of ideas for what to do with all the leftover tinder after lvl 3 fire starting. Nevertheless, here is my contribution: What about letting our survivors make logs out of all that newspaper and flammable oddities (bark, plugs, cat tail heads) lying around? The process, according to wikihow, is simple enough: You soak a bunch of newspaper in water, mold it into logs, and let them dry. I´m thinking it could be like a reskin of the Firelog that´s already in the game. (Also taking the liberty to assume it would work with cat tails and plugs made from sticks). To further indulge in the concept, I propose adding a paper log press thing to the game, as a rare find. Imagine letting this thing loose on your pesky heaps of useless tinder that´s potentially robbing you of 1-2 FPS! It could be a mobile, fairly lightwight item, repairable with metal and tools, like the lantern. It could even introduce a new achievement/challenge: Squish every single newspaper/newspaper roll into logs! Now, what would be the benefit of these logs? You would basically invest a good amount of water and time into something that couldn´t possibly have a longer burn time than coal, which cost nothing to pick up and naturally respawns. Why go to the trouble? Well, I don´t really know... I guess it allows you to tidy up your camp/inventory, if nothing else. My best argument really is that every other material in the game has multiple areas of use (gunpowder as both accelerant and bullet crafting ingredient; cloth and metal is super versatile), or at least can be crafted into one versatile thing (all the teas give hydration, calories and warmth bonus, beside their medical application). Really, the tinders of TLD are in conflict with the game´s principle of universal degradation, with their one single limited utility, and unatural resistance to the elements. (Just look at him, taunting your fragile body with his superior condition and independence from nature) Of course, the problem could be solved by simply being able to burn individual tinders as normal fuel, for maybe ~5 min burn time (one stick burns for 10 min, or yields two tinder plugs through crafting, if I recall correctly - 10min/2=5min), as suggested by others on the forum. I find that solution a bit unsatisfying, however. I mean, this is a survival game where the protagonists would rather go and freaking forge themselves some sharp metal weapons to fearlessly bring into countless intimate fights with local killer wolfs, than cowardly whittle some silly wooden spear to keep them at a safe distance. Seriously though, what I love about TLD is first and foremost the gameplay (and aestethics), the realism in some areas is just a nice bonus. I think the tinder system is one (small) gaping hole in an otherwise tightly knit ecosystem of materials and tools, each with a distinct purpose pretty much throughout any run (the can opener is probably another exception, I just realized). I mean, I would be happy if Hinterland added a region in the middle of Great Bear with a vulcano, where you could sacrifice these otherworldly artifacts to appease the weather gods, just let me put them to some use! * To get back to my original idea, I personally don´t see the Paper Log as an actually useful item for the player to craft, but would love to hear your thoughts, or your own ideas for the tinder plugs!

Did this recently, can confirm the madness of it. Although I had ventured to the valley of the satchel and the canyon of crampons and technical backpacks beforehand. With the well fed carrying bonus, you're really only looking at maybe 4 trips to the summit to completely empty that plane tail (reclaimed wood included!). And then 4 trips from deer clearing to mountaineers hut... Some good memories from waiting out blizzards in that cave at the deer clearing, surrounded by ruined leather shoes and crackers. Also learned that there is another cave in the same area that connects to the aforementioned canyon! Currently all the loot is stuffed into mountaineers hut (wish that hatch could hold a few more kilos!), waiting for me to haul it down to my new favourite base in the game, community hall in Pleasent Valley. The feeling of finally organizing everything into those tidy cabinets must surely be worth that long trek...

When you think you can become a master chef if you just heat up enough canned food.

Interesting idea, as the choice of using the lantern to craft/read/repair when it's too dark never seems worth it to me. I have always felt like playing around the "it's too dark to x" is a bit finicky, having to go outside to maybe sneak in an hour of f.ex. reading. It's hard to tell how dark is too dark sometimes, both in and outdoors. The only way using a candle is worth it, as I can see, is to give it way longer burn time than the lantern. Unless you had a fire going, it would cost a whole match for what could be just a couple of extra hours of x activity (auroras light up in/outdoors, and if the sky clears up it's never too dark outside, even at night). However a really long burn time would kind of make it op as a fire starter. Now, how about having a built-in lantern in some (very few, hard to get to) crafting tables? It could run on some special fuel that lasted a good while, and worked only on such stationary lanterns. (maybe like those propane tanks Stinky socks is talking about). Could be useful for crafting something like the bearskin bedroll in one go, or to blast through lots of skillbooks. In general though, I think that the DARKness in the long DARK is an integral part of the game, and should be unavoidable. I like that the player has quite limited control over lightsources. The lantern is both mobile and weatherresistant, so I don't think it needs more abundant fuel.

Thanks 🙂 Now I just need a profile picture, however those cat tails just never seem to degrade... I will try out the 60% strategy. Fascinating how many mechanics are hidden in the game, I am just too lazy to test stuff like this out myself though... Havent been able to stick to a save long enough to necessitate a trip to the milling machine, currently at 70 something days. Switched from pc to the switch version when it came out, and not yet comfortable pitting my questionable joystick aim against the inhabitants of the inlet...

Thought the outcome of wolf struggles was completely random, except your own clicking and choice of weapon. Have you done some tests on this? Personally I keep both hatchet and knife at around 80%, for some reason. Rarely away from a whetstone long enough for my tools to go under 50%, so I would rather "store" that condition in the whetstone than in one single hatchet/knife, if that makes sense.

I never stay in MT for very long, mostly just for the loot and to get to HRV and the satchel. Too many wolves around, low visibility with all the houses, and too cramped in general. Rarely venture down to the lower half of the region though, so it always feels like a very small region to me I really only play on Stalker, occasionally Interloper if I am on PC.